Rogue planet bigger than Jupiter found floating free thru space

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
2,738
126
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346532/description/Rogue_planet_found_among_gang_of_stars

CFBDSIR2149:
Rogue_planet.jpg


it doesnt orbit a star.
it’s size is between four and seven times the mass of Jupiter :eek:
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,170
10,633
126
It's probably a spaceship, and they're flying through space destroying planets.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
35,847
10,161
136
That artist impression.

Shame it doesn't look anything as beautiful as that.
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
I know i buck the trend when it comes to this idea. But i strongly believe that a lot of our "missing matter" that is the basis for "dark matter and dark energy" is exactly objects like this.

Too small for us to detect with our instruments, yet all over the place.

This explains: 1. why our mass calculations for galaxies appear to be WAY low.
2. why "dark energy" is inconsistent across space.

There is simply shitloads of mass out there that is either never enough material to form a star, or made up of materials that will not fuse into a star (Iron and heavier).

I think dark matter and dark energy are the "Aether" of the 21st century.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
I know i buck the trend when it comes to this idea. But i strongly believe that a lot of our "missing matter" that is the basis for "dark matter and dark energy" is exactly objects like this.

Too small for us to detect with our instruments, yet all over the place.

This explains: 1. why our mass calculations for galaxies appear to be WAY low.
2. why "dark energy" is inconsistent across space.

There is simply shitloads of mass out there that is either never enough material to form a star, or made up of materials that will not fuse into a star (Iron and heavier).

I think dark matter and dark energy are the "Aether" of the 21st century.

Dark matter is better understood than that.

Dark energy is mostly a name to explain that which we cannot describe any other way, and generally accept to represent one or more discoveries we'll understand in time.

Dark energy, imho, is likely to be something like: "oh, we can get this and that to do such and such... but we just don't understand at all how and why that outcome happens" and the knowledge will eventually be discovered, linking the unknown variable to a concrete element of reality. From there, that missing "link" will be applied to other mysteries and the mysterious will become better understood.


Dark matter I think is a little more concrete, in that certain things line up knowing that there is this element that we can account for, but cannot otherwise see or truly understand just yet.
One of the last things I remember reading about it, is that there is a certain distribution of it throughout the cosmos, in a certain pattern, and the "spread" of the matter we know slightly lagged behind it and then followed it to start "clumping" in certain ways at certain regions of space.

I'm fairly certain all matter, including rogue planets, stars, and interstellar "dust" is essentially accounted for. As in, even the matter that is best described as molecules/particles just floating randomly between larger gravity-bound bodies.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Nice, now let's tow this thing into this solar system and start mining it for resources. :p
115-160 light years away, so the towing operation will be something of a long-term investment.



I know i buck the trend when it comes to this idea. But i strongly believe that a lot of our "missing matter" that is the basis for "dark matter and dark energy" is exactly objects like this.

Too small for us to detect with our instruments, yet all over the place.

This explains: 1. why our mass calculations for galaxies appear to be WAY low.
2. why "dark energy" is inconsistent across space.

There is simply shitloads of mass out there that is either never enough material to form a star, or made up of materials that will not fuse into a star (Iron and heavier).

I think dark matter and dark energy are the "Aether" of the 21st century.
I think they'd need to be everywhere to explain the amount of missing mass.

I'm favoring the MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics) lines of thinking, which say that there's something missing or incorrect in our mathematical models, rather than there being invisible matter all over the place.
 
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destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
As for the rogue planet status - it was one of two things: a planet that was bound to a star that since lost it's grip on it (it died, shed most of its mass, got knocked out of its own orbit and another body helped tug this one while things got dicey, etc), or this was a brown dwarf that developed differently and developed in a spatial region of cosmic dust and gasses that could only have supported such a micro-star and perhaps a few small planetoids... as opposed to having enough material for a larger "solar system" like ours.

There are plenty of stars, known and theorized, to exist outside most normal boundaries.

And many, many many examples of planets/brown dwarfs/failed stars that make Jupiter look tiny. :)
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
I'm favoring the MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics) lines of thinking, which say that there's something missing or incorrect in our mathematical models, rather than invisible matter all over the place.

And then there's also that approach.
It's either: future resources and tools will make it possible to "see" that which we theorized to exist but had yet to have the capability to prove; or, we finally develop a new mathematical model that, really, can be said "this changes everything."

I'm not sure which one I'm rooting for. I'm no math genius, so I cannot possibly contemplate that route; and discovering things after hunting for them forever can be cool, but it can be that much more awesome to find things completely unexpected, again, "changing everything." :D